Sweet Georgia Brown
Encyclopedia
"Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard
and pop tune written in 1925 by Ben Bernie
and Maceo Pinkard
(music) and Kenneth Casey
(lyrics).
The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925 by bandleader Ben Bernie
, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra. As Bernie's then nationally famous orchestra featuring the number did much to popularize the number, Pinkard cut Bernie in for a share of the tune's royalties by giving him a co-writer credit to the song..
It is widely known as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters
basketball team.
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
and pop tune written in 1925 by Ben Bernie
Ben Bernie
Ben Bernie , born Bernard Anzelevitz, was an American jazz violinist and radio personality, often introduced as The Old Maestro. He was noted for his showmanship and memorable bits of snappy dialogue....
and Maceo Pinkard
Maceo Pinkard
Maceo Pinkard was an American composer, lyricist, and music publisher. Among his compositions is "Sweet Georgia Brown", a popular standard for decades after its composition and famous as the theme of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.Pinkard was inducted in the National Academy of...
(music) and Kenneth Casey
Kenneth Casey
Kenneth Casey was a United States composer, publisher, author and child actor.He is best remembered as the lyricist for the song "Sweet Georgia Brown".-External links:...
(lyrics).
The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925 by bandleader Ben Bernie
Ben Bernie
Ben Bernie , born Bernard Anzelevitz, was an American jazz violinist and radio personality, often introduced as The Old Maestro. He was noted for his showmanship and memorable bits of snappy dialogue....
, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra. As Bernie's then nationally famous orchestra featuring the number did much to popularize the number, Pinkard cut Bernie in for a share of the tune's royalties by giving him a co-writer credit to the song..
It is widely known as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
basketball team.
Notable versions
- Of the many early recordings of the tune, the vocal version by Ethel WatersEthel WatersEthel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
in the 1920s, and instrumental version by Stéphane GrappelliStéphane GrappelliStéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
and Django ReinhardtDjango ReinhardtDjango Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
in the 1930s, are particularly notable. Ethel Waters also starred in "Cabin in the Sky," which contained a character named Georgia Brown.
- Shortly after the song debuted in 1925, the California Ramblers recorded their own instrumental version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" as well.
- Cab CallowayCab CallowayCabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
has recorded an abstracted version featuring mostly scat singingScat singingIn vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.- Structure and syllable choice...
- Ella FitzgeraldElla FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
sang and recorded this song many times; a rendition can be found on her VerveVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
release: Whisper NotWhisper NotWhisper Not is a 1967 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with the Marty Paich Orchestra. Ella had previously recorded with Marty Paich and his more familiar Dek-tette on the 1957 album Ella Swings Lightly.Whisper Not is Ella's penultimate recording for the Verve label...
.
- The version used by the Globetrotters is a 1949 instrumental by Brother BonesBrother BonesBrother Bones was an American whistling and bone playing recording artist from Montgomery, Alabama. Born Freeman Davis, his late 1940s recording of the 1925 standard "Sweet Georgia Brown," became internationally famous after being adopted as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball...
and His Shadows, featuring whistling and bonesBones (instrument)The bones are a musical instrument which, at the simplest, consists of a pair of animal bones, or pieces of wood or a similar material. Sections of large rib bones and lower leg bones are the most commonly used true bones, although wooden sticks shaped like the earlier true bones are now more...
by Brother Bones. It was adopted as the Globetrotters theme around 1950, and today is inextricably associated with the team.
- A notable performance of this song was that of Anita O'DayAnita O'DayAnita O'Day was an American jazz singer.Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer"...
at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, captured in Bert SternBert SternBertram Stern is an American fashion and celebrity portrait photographer.-Marilyn Monroe:His best known work is arguably The Last Sitting, a collection of 2,500 photographs taken of Marilyn Monroe over a three day period, six weeks before her death, taken for Vogue...
's film Jazz on a Summer's DayJazz on a Summer's DayJazz on a Summer's Day is a documentary film set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, and filmed and directed by noted commercial and fashion photographer Bert Stern and the film director Aram Avakian , who also edited the movie...
.
- Ray CharlesRay CharlesRay Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
- Dedicated to YouDedicated to YouDedicated to You is a 1961 album by Ray Charles. Originally released in January 1961 the album collects Charles' musical love notes to twelve very special women, by name....
1961
- The song was covered by The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
while working as a back-up band for singer Tony SheridanTony SheridanTony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...
. Two versions exist; the first was recorded on May 24, 1962 in Hamburg, Germany, using the original lyrics. The second (but the first version released) was released in 1964 during the wave of BeatlemaniaBeatlemaniaBeatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
, with Sheridan having re-recorded the vocals with notably more tame lyrics featuring the added verse "in Liverpool she even dares / to criticise the Beatles' hair / with their whole fan-club standing there / oh Sweet Georgia Brown." Recently, bootleggers have utilized the two recordings to produce an instrumental featuring only the Beatles' instruments and backup vocals, entirely eliminating Sheridan. Roy Young played the pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
- Trini LopezTrini LopezTrini Lopez is an American singer, guitarist and actor.-Career:Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, on Ashland Street in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He began his entertainment career in Dallas playing at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby...
included a sing-a-long version on his Reprise RecordsReprise RecordsReprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
album The Sing Along World of Trini Lopez (Reprise 6183).
- Sergio FranchiSergio FranchiSergio Franchi was an Italian tenor.Franchi was born in Cremona, Italy. His father wanted him to become an electrical engineer, so he studied both music and engineering simultaneously. The family moved to South Africa in 1952, where Sergio worked part-time as a draftsman, while continuing to study...
recorded his version on the RCA Red Seal album Women in My Life (1963).
- Nancy SinatraNancy SinatraNancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
recorded the song for her 1966 studio album Sugar.
- Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
recorded a version on his album There Must Be More to Love Than ThisThere Must Be More to Love Than This"There Must Be More to Love Than This" is a 1970 single by Jerry Lee Lewis. It was Lewis's fourth number one on the U.S. country music chart. The single spent two weeks at the top spot and a total of fourteen weeks on the chart.-Chart performance:...
.
- The progressive rockProgressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Gentle GiantGentle GiantGentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
covered the song on their live album Playing the FoolPlaying the FoolThe Official Live - Playing the Fool is a live album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant which was released in 1977. It demonstrates the band's complex musicianship and talent as well as showcasing versions of songs which are often greatly modified from the original album versions.-LP 1,...
, released in 1977.
- In the 1983 remakeTo Be or Not to Be (1983 film)To Be or Not to Be is a 1983 20th Century Fox comedy-drama film directed by Alan Johnson, produced by Mel Brooks with Howard Jeffrey as executive producer and Irene Walzer as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Ronny Graham and Thomas Meehan, based on the original story by Melchior...
of To Be or Not to BeTo Be or Not to Be (1942 film)To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel...
, Mel BrooksMel BrooksMel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
and Anne BancroftAnne BancroftAnne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
do a version of the song in PolishPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
.
- On the Captain BeefheartCaptain BeefheartDon Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
bootleg album Captain Hook, an instrumental version, atypical of Beefheart's style.
- The Count Basie BandCount BasieWilliam "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
recorded "Sweet Georgia Brown" on their Prime Time album in 1977.
- Roberta FlackRoberta FlackRoberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk music...
included a version in her 1994 RobertaRobertaRoberta is a musical from 1933 with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach. The musical is based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller...
album.
- Dixie CarterDixie CarterDixie Virginia Carter was an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...
once sang an inebriated version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" in an episode of Designing WomenDesigning WomenDesigning Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...
.
- Guitarist John LoweryJohn LoweryJohn William Lowery , best known by the stage name John 5, is an American guitarist. His stage name was bestowed on him in 1998 when he left David Lee Roth and joined the industrial metal group Marilyn Manson as their guitarist, taking over from Zim Zum...
, better known as John 5 did a modern-bluegrass variation cover of Sweet Georgia Brown on his 2004 debut record, Vertigo.
In animated cartoons
- Caricatures of Fats WallerFats WallerFats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
and the Mills BrothersMills BrothersThe Mills Brothers, sometimes billed as The Four Mills Brothers, were an American jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century who made more than 2,000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies, and garnered at least three dozen gold records...
sing a scat-style rendition of the song in the cartoon "The Isle of Pingo PongoThe Isle of Pingo PongoThe Isle of Pingo Pongo is a 1938 Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Tex Avery. It is the first of Avery's spoofs of travelogues. The cartoon was banned from television syndication in 1968 by United Artists for racist depictions of black people and is one of the "Censored Eleven".The short follows a...
" from the Merrie MelodiesMerrie MelodiesMerrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
series.
- The robot BenderBender Bending RodríguezBender Bending Rodríguez, designated Bending Unit 22, is a fictional robot character in the animated television series Futurama. He was created by series creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen and is voiced by John DiMaggio. In the series, Bender plays the role of a comic anti-hero, and is...
of TV science fiction cartoon FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
harbors a desire to join the Harlem Globetrotters, and often whistles Sweet Georgia Brown in the episode Time Keeps on Slippin'Time Keeps on Slippin'"Time Keeps On Slippin" is the 14th episode in season 3 of Futurama. It originally aired May 6, 2001. The title is from a lyric in Fly Like an Eagle by Steve Miller Band which was featured in the basketball film Space Jam...
.
- The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
have made references to "Sweet Georgia Brown" on three occasions:- "Homie the ClownHomie the Clown"Homie the Clown" is the 15th episode of The Simpsons sixth season, and aired on February 12, 1995. When Krusty the Clown opens a clown college to deal with his debt, Homer Simpson enrolls and ends up impersonating Krusty at public events. Mistaking him for the real clown, the Springfield Mafia...
": The music can be heard during the part where Krusty is watching the Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals match. - "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-DoodilyHome Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily"Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily" is the third episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 1, 1995. In the episode, the Simpson children are put in the custody of Ned and Maude Flanders after a series of misadventures. Homer and...
": Skinner uses "Sweet Georgia Brown" as an oath when he finds Bart and Lisa disheveled and suspects that it has something to do with Homer and Marge neglecting them at home. - "The City of New York vs. Homer SimpsonThe City of New York vs. Homer Simpson"The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" is the first episode of The Simpsons ninth season, and premiered on September 21, 1997 on Fox. The episode sees the Simpson family traveling to Manhattan to recover the family car, which was taken by Barney Gumble and abandoned outside the World Trade Center...
": The music can be heard in the couch gag where the family, dressed as Harlem Globetrotters, pass a red, white, and blue basketball to each other (with Maggie dunking the ball in the basket above the couch and hitting Homer in the head with it) as they run to the couch.
- "Homie the Clown
- In the Drawn TogetherDrawn TogetherDrawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...
episode "Nipple Ring-Ring Goes to Foster Care", the character Ling-Ling, after being given 21 shots of liquor (for his 21st birthday), is given "the traditional 21 doses of Sweet Georgia Brown," according to Spanky Ham.
- Bugs Bunny sings it in the Looney Tunes To Hare is HumanTo Hare Is Human"To Hare is Human" is a 1956 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. It stars Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote. The title is a play on the expression, "To err is human; to forgive, divine."-Plot:...
and Hare TriggerHare TriggerHare Trigger is a 1945 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny directed by Friz Freleng. It marks the first appearance of Yosemite Sam, who appears as a train robber...
.
- Minnie Mouse plays it in short animated film "Mickey Steps Out".
External links
- Audio file of the Brother Bones version at the United States Patent and Trademark OfficeUnited States Patent and Trademark OfficeThe United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
(MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format) - Song information from Warner-Chappell MusicWarner Music GroupWarner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
- Sweet Georgia Brown lyrics (original version)